He believed if you had a little faith

you could stop the rain

And he believed if you got a little love

it would ease the pain

but still he’s suffering

Searching for the face of Jesus

Looking for the light we need

Searching for the face of Jesus

painted in the blood we bleed

By the side of a giant swimming pool

with a mystic book

Hanging out with the guys and playing the fool

fat as King Farouk

but look he’s suffering

Searching for the face of Jesus

downtown Memphis, Tennessee

Searching for the face of Jesus

Science is a mystery

Oh and sometimes there’s a close shave

They come, they go

Keeps the flowers fresh at his mom’s grave

and talks to her as though …

Searching for the face of Jesus

Looking for the light we need

Searching for the face of Jesus

painted in the blood we bleed

Searching for the face of Jesus

downtown Memphis, Tennessee

Searching for the face of Jesus

Science is a mystery

2000. I read Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick, the second part of his excellent biography, and it is the source of the details in this lyric. Elvis emerges as a lonely but philosophical man with mystic interests, looking for meaning in his life while holed up in his Memphis mansion reading books about spirituality. When he died, he was re-reading A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus by Frank O. Adams. Elvis’s dependency on prescription drugs regularly led to the near-fatal overdoses referred to here (‘sometimes there’s a close shave’). King Farouk was the obese last king of Egypt, sent into exile, and a notorious pleasure-seeking celebrity in his day.